Goal: Will All Be Forgiven for Timothy Chandler?

Brian Sciaretta, a regular contributor to the Goal blog, spoke with the German-American defender Timothy Chandler for an article that appeared in Tuesday's editions of The Times. Chandler, 22, has made only nine appearances for the United States national team, all in international friendlies, but by opting not to make more in the past two years he had become a source of frustration for American coaches and fans.

Starting with the 2011 Gold Cup, and continuing through the early rounds of World Cup qualifying, Chandler declined to play for the national team in competitions that would have tied him to the United States permanently. Under FIFA rules, Sciaretta notes, "dual-national players, even those who have played for youth national teams, can change their international allegiance as long as they have not played in an official competition at the senior level." That is expected to happen for Chandler on Wednesday in the Americans' World Cup qualifier at Honduras. With Steve Cherundolo out with a knee injury, Chandler is almost certain to start at right back. He could become a fixture there.

With his international future set to be cleared up, Chandler also tried to clear up any misconceptions about his time away from the team. He told Sciaretta that it was never his intention to hold off Bob Bradley and Jurgen Klinsmann long enough to attract the attention of German soccer officials.

Chandler, who has represented Germany only at the under-15 level, said that he was never holding out for a German call-up, but rather choosing to focus on his club career with Nuremberg.
"I'm now deeply involved and established as a professional player where I wasn't before," Chandler said. "This is the primary reason for my decision to now play for the United States. I never was in contact with the German federation last year but I was in frequent contact with Klinsmann. He was telling me about what he wanted to achieve with the United States."
Chandler returned to the American team for the final game of 2012, an exhibition against Russia, and played 90 minutes in a 2-2 tie. He told U.S. Soccer's Web site before that game that he was now "in 1,000 percent" with the team.

There is no reason to doubt Chandler's words now. He said the same thing when he played in the Russia match, and he never trained with Germany, never offered to wash Joachim Löw's Mercedes in exchange for an invite. And let's be honest: even he must have known that he was always more likely to be the successor to Cherundolo than to Philipp Lahm or Jerôme Boateng.

But it will be interesting to see whether fans of the national team quickly warm to Chandler, especially those that took him to task in places like here, here, here and here. The quality of his play, starting Wednesday, will certainly be the most important factor.

But regardless of Chandler's reasons for stepping out of the national team picture, Klinsmann expended a lot of energy to bring him back into the fold. That is probably because he sees the upside in a talented player who can play either side, who is employed by a team in one of Europe's top leagues, who could be a potential long-term replacement for Cherundolo, who will be 34 later this month.

Chandler will turn 23 in March. If Klinsmann is right, he could have a World Cup or two (or three) in his future.